Audio-Technica ATH-M70X

I bought these headphones as my first professional reference. I have since then acquired reasonable studio monitors. They are good for checking mids, highs and sibilance and can uncover problems in these areas. However I wouldn't say you could rely on them to make a decent mix, rather use them for checking specific things.

The headphones are very comfortable, way more than M50x, no problem wearing them for longer periods of time, at least physically. These headphones are however very tiring due to their pronounced mids and highs, so working on them for longer periods of time is counterproductive.

The build quality doesn't feel cheap at first, however the bridge is very fragile, each of the phones hangs on about 1mm of plastic (although it looks like it is reinforced by aluminum brackets), so any drop is very likely to break off one of the cans, just like it happened to me and many others - just google "M70x broken". Quote in an authorized repair shop was about 150 euro, so there's that.

I was advised by experienced sound engineers to purchase Audio Technica. I considered this to be a premium model. It broke after 3 months ! When I Googled the model I noticed that tall the feedback related to the model breaking in exactly the same place. The first post I saw was dated 2018. I bought mine three years later. The design hasn't been improved.
I am also having difficulty returning the headphones 'to be looked at by Thomann '. A DHL return label has been sent BUT returns can only be made by DHL Parcel, NOT DHL express. Try finding a DHL Parcel in the UK. The link forwarded by Thomann to locate a DHL Parcel point excludes the UK.
I desperately need headphones and I've actually purchased some MX40s from Thomann. And a Pearl 14'' drum skin too .
I sort of still like Thomann , but so disappointed with my MX 70s.

I bought these as a slight upgrade for my ATH-50. As I had them for a few years and them themselves had been replaced by the ATH-50X. I decided the take the plunge and buy the latest offering from Audio Technica. They're one of the most expensive monitoring headphones on the market at the moment and after reading reviews in soundonsound and future music I was blown away by the amount of positive feedback and reviews they had received. On first inspection they're lighter than my 50s and I imagine this will be very handy for longer mixing sessions. I understand the frequency range is also slightly greater however this is only really for dolphins and cats. Overall I'm impressed on first listen and they're a noticeable improvement on the 50 however I cannot say so for the 50X as I have never owned.

Hearing the sound in very detailed form.
Closed headphones usually are a little bit painful to hold on the head more than two hours. This one is an exception.


The model 70 does not sound so bassy and alive, like the other two models, but it is sound-flat, what for a sound ingeneering an objective angle ist - so you will be able to adjust your song mixing, so it will sound nice on every speakers and headphones.

Since more than one year I use the headphones for recording of the songs with microphone. And first of all I make main mixing with Adam F7. When I need to check the sound on different sorce, I use ATH-M70 X for checking of mostly mid and high frequences.

These are really great headphones with a powerful sound. I also like how they fold flat and come with a firm zip-up case, as I bring them with me often when travelling. They isolate me from disturbances when travelling on trains. I also like that they come with three different detachable cable options (long cable, short cable, coiled cable). They're still comfortable after several hours of wearing them and they look stylish and inconspicuous. They seem well made - I've had no problems so far and they do tend to get thrown around a bit. I only remove one star for sound quality as they don't sound quite as 'airy' as my open-backed AKG headphones - but I guess this is to be expected with closed-back headphones.
Update: Yup, broke in the same place as they have for many others. Such a shame that this isn't addressed in premium headphones.

When buying the first pair of headphones for music production, it doesn't really matter which headphones you buy. All of them sound good just slightly different. This was my first purchase so I had nothing to compare to and I could not find the product in the stores nearby me for testing.

I made the purchase purely based on reviews and specs. I just say that I feel I got what I wanted. The quality of my mixes got better. Before I had to mix with a collection of hi-fi speakers.

No-one can talk to me when I have the ATs on. So they isolate normal life almost completely.

Sound is nice and open thanks to the wide frequency range.

Can't work with the phones on forever. I have to take them off when ever I'm not listening. This so probably more like an operator error than a matter of comfortability.

The body is made of aluminium and plastic so it has a toy-like feeling to it. The ATs are light yes but with the expense of build.

In the end, if someone would as if I'd recommend them, I'd say "sure, why not"